Sales Pitch - An Important Skill for Financial Advisors

Are you in love proposing a marriage? Are you a candidate wanting to get job? Are you a sales person who wants to sell products? Are you a financial advisor trying to attract clients?

No matter what work you are into or at what stage in life you are in, we all are trying to sell our ideas on a continuous basis. We are in constant exercise to convince everyone else of our point of view. Indeed what we are doing is “selling” or “pitching” at all times. Hoewever, in spite of its' common nature, not many people think about it too much or how to really go about it.

Well, packaging and presentation really matters in this world of competition where clients do not have the adequate time to assess or research any advisor or be loyal to him. No matter how good you are – you must have a strong sales pitch in your armour. In this article, we take a closer look at how we can structure and refine our sales pitch – a critical ingredient of our financial advisory business. The idea is to start practicing this approach and over time, we are sure to have a powerful and effective sales pitch.

The Homework:
An effective sales pitch begins way before you actually meet any client. A proper preparation goes a very long way in shaping your sales pitch. Here is what you should do...

1. Be clear as to what is that you want from the client /prospect?
   At the first meeting, you cannot expect for the client /prospect to hand over a big cheque - do you? The idea is to set increasingly bigger expectations for successive meetings.
2. Figure out what the clients/ prospects want.
   You need to figure out what the client needs or wants and how does your idea fit into their needs/wants. Find out /assess their level of awareness and experience and try and know their financial /family background. Your sales pitch must be directed at meeting their needs and exceeding their expecations.
3. Prepare for the Q&A session.
   Many advisors spend too little time in finding propable questions and framing appropriate answers. Before the meeting date, identify the weak areas of your idea /proposition and frame relevant suggested questions. You can use proper data /facts / cases / humour smartly in Q&A to make yourself stand out.
4. Refine your idea /proposition.
   Your idea /proposition should be clear, simple, easily understantable, concrete, credible, convincing and memorable. It should stand out for the client for some special reason apart from meeting his needs and exceeding his expecations.

The Process:
Now that we have prepared and practiced our sales pitch, it is now time to begin the entire process of delivering the sales pitch. Over time, as we practice this process, we are bound to get more skilled, effective and productive.

1. Set the right time for the meeting: It is preferred that you meet clients when they are likely to be fresh and energetic and open to ideas. If possible, try and set meetings early in the day rather than later.
2. Begin by building rapport: People want to associate with people who they believe will enjoy working with themselves. The idea is to build some form of personal rapport with the client before the actual discussions start and also during the discussions. You may bring up topics like some shared interests, where has the client lived, people /companies he has worked with and so on.
3. Skip the formal presentations: While, it may be helpful in many cases, but it also has some limitations. Powerpoints often restricts /limits your flow of discussion and cliets/prospects may even get bored or distracted watching long presentations. An open discussion also encourages clients/prospects to discuss matters that they want to.
4. Get to the heart soon: We do not want our clients to keep waiting or guessing to know what we are talking about and what we want. Ideally, within the first 10 minutes, we should communicate the most important details and pitch the core of our idea. Then, for the rest of the meeting, you can stick with your idea and keep the client focussed on it.
5. Sound natural & instantaneous: An overpracticed sales pitch is worse than one which is not practiced. Care should be taken that the pitch does not sound too monotonous and rehearsed even if you have delivered it hundreds of times. Every time, it should feel fresh and delivered with great interest and enthusiasm.
6. Give justifications /logics: Simple ideas but without any explanation or justification or logic may not work with the clients. Client expect that you show the proof behind it. Instead of focussing clients of what they should be doing, focuss on making them realise why they should be doing it.
7. Be confidant and handle the Q&A smartly: Try not to be defensive when clients asks questions or raises doubts. Instead, look confident since you have already done your homework! Also never interrupt someone’s question to make a correction and be patient to repeat some answers /explanations already given to the client. Remember that questions are a very good thing as it means that the clients are interested!
8. Make client feel comfortable to say yes: It is important to let the client feel relaxed and not rushed up to make a decision. Let him know that you will care to do the follow-up and send all necessary information and help for him to make a decision.
9. Resolve any concerns: If the clients say no, one has to politely try and resolve their concerns. Your genuine effort to resolve may renew their interest.
10. Make a smooth, dignified exit: If the client is visible not interested, try not to stretch any idea too long. Also do not overstay your welcome and try to look out for the subtle signs that say 'leave'. Do not keep talking when the client not really 'listening'. Even if you fail at the end of all your efforts, be happy to have met the client. Look him into his eyes, thank him the time, say goodbye, smile and give a firm handshake.
    Send a thank you note. As soon as you get back to the office /home, remember to send a thank you note the the client /prospect. If it was a failed meeting, let him know that he is always welcome if ever your help is needed.
11. Follow-up. If the meeting had been sucessful or inconclusive, keep active follow-up of the client after say a week. Include details of what you talked about at the meeting and the decisions made, if any. If you still don’t get a response, follow up one more time. Some experts say you should follow up three times in all, but this may be a bit too much. Typically if the clients do not respond to two follow-ups, they are not interested.

Conclusion:
The sales pitch is important for success as financial advisors. Over time, we may have already developed, knowingly or unknowingly, our own sales pitch. The message is simply to identify, improvise and refine your sales pitch by you becoming more aware, methodological, observant and process driven. With some practice and some effort, our sales pitch will surely become more powerful and effective with time.

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